Various types of environment work enclosures are known for isolating dangerous environments or the like from ambient environments, or vice versa. Conventional isolation enclosures are frequently employed in hospitals for the handling of human patients under controlled microbiological conditions, and in laboratories for providing germ-free environments, or conversely for isolating dangerous microorganisms in a restricted local. These isolators are adapted to isolate germs from entering the ambient environment, or vice versa, e.g. to prevent germs of the ambient environment from entering the isolated environment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,051,164 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,712, both of Trexler, disclose such isolation enclosure systems specifically suited for hospital and laboratory use. The worker accesses the interior of the isolator by means of inwardly projecting integral gloves. Such U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,712 shows a portable wheeled isolator which facilitates the movement of a patient, positioned within the isolator, about a hospital.
Other isolation enclosures have been provided to protect workers from other types of hazardous environments by isolating the worker from the environment by only permitting the arms and hands of the worker to penetrate into the hazardous zone. Thus, as in the Trexler patents discussed above, the worker is outside the isolated zone and uses flexible arm and hand gloves which penetrate the rigid walls of the enclosure and at the same time provide a protective barrier. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,509 to Piet et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,190 to Fink et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,291 to Natale all disclose portable protective isolation enclosures which permit the arms and hands of a worker access to the interior of the enclosure. The patents to Fink et al and Natale both show protective enclosures which are suited for surrounding a contaminated area and isolating it from the ambient environment.
The Natale patent is particularly directed to a portable protective enclosure adapted for the removal of asbestos insulation from asbestos covered pipes and valves. While this device may operate to overcome the polluting of the surrounding environment, such device has no facility for cleaning large areas, nor has it the capability of providing an isolated environment during removal of asbestos or the like from ceilings.
Isolation enclosures have also been utilized to furnish workers with protection by isolating the ambient environment from a work environment which poses some dangers to the ambient environment and possibly the worker as well. These generally include a facility for protecting the worker from the contaminated material in the isolation enclosure while the worker is within the enclosure itself. Generally, these isolated enclosures serve to primarily protect the surrounding environments from the materials being used or during the disposal thereof; in other words the enclosure confines the potentially dangerous materials to a specific predetermined area. Preferably the isolated workplaces or enclosures should be large enough to accommodate at least one worker therein, so that he can carry out the desired work function.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,657,991 to Oberg and U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,940 to Hainline both show isolated workplaces which are large enough to accommodate at least one worker therewithin. Both of these patents show protective enclosures which also include ventilation and filtering systems primarily to protect the worker from noxious fumes and the like, and aids in cleaning of the air reintroduced to the ambient atmosphere. However, neither of these patents disclose portable protective enclosures, i.e. the enclosure disclosed in these patents are stationary structures, and these devices are not suitable or adapted for providing an isolated workplace for removal of asbestos from ceilings of buildings. Thus, these systems are of no use when it is required to clean large contaminated areas due to the necessity of having to transport the hazardous materials from a remote region of the isolation enclosure by way of an unprotected and exposed route.